Dairy Free Maple Iced Coffee

By Nelson & Liz of Photos and Food

Liz and I love our coffee. Liz is more of a “bucket-sized" regular coffee kind'a gal and I love my espresso and espresso-based coffees. But with our very hot summer temperatures of 30+ °C (86+ °F for our good friends south of the border), plus humidity—I don’t really crave hot beverages. Cue the frozen caffeine! Who's the genius that came up with the idea for cold coffees? This person should win an award... or maybe they already have? A standing ovation to you [applause applause applause]. Well, to get the facts, a quick check-in with our good friends Google and Wikipedia (where would we be without them?) brought up information about this frozen cup of awesomeness.

Frozen cappuccinos are so popular nowadays and they come in lots of variations and fancy names such as, Frappucino, Iced Capp, Froccino, etc. I love them all! The only problem I have is the rather high price and inconvenience of having to go to a coffee shop for this delightful caffeinated treat. On average, these drinks can cost anywhere from $3.50 to $7.00 depending on the size and flavor you choose. Then there’s the inconvenience…I’m relaxing at home, and all of the sudden I have a hankering for a frosty coffee. Now, I like going out to socialize with friends over coffee as much as the next guy, but sometimes I just want to relax at home and not go out into the scorching sun and heat of the day in search of a cold coffee (do you see the irony in that?).

Wait…there’s one more reason I prefer to make my own frozen coffee drinks at home—and that reason is xanthan gum and dry pectin. Many coffee houses include these ingredients in their mix to keep the liquids from separating in your glass. We made a conscious decision to leave those ingredients out of our recipe; the cleaner and simpler, the better. This means you’ll see some liquid separate in your cup—but no biggie…you’ve got a dual-purpose straw—just give your coffee a little stir before sipping. We’re all sophisticated like that ;-)

Having a trusty powerful blender like our Blendtec Designer 675 allows us to whip up a frosted coffee at home whenever we want it. It's incredibly easy to make your own version of one of these frosty caffeinated delights right at home—and at a fraction of the price you’d pay at the coffee house—and let me tell you, those costs really add up quickly. In a nutshell all you need is a strong coffee, a little dairy or dairy substitute, a favorite flavor, a little something sweet, and of course some ice. Your Blendtec blender will crush this in a snap and turn these simple ingredients into a cup of cold caffeine magic! Yum… We call ours freezuccino, what will you call yours?

See? We just saved you time, money and a trek! We're nice like that :-) Now go blend-up a n’ice’ cup of java... and always eat well, friends!

Dairy Free Maple Iced Coffee

Ingredients

3/4 cups freshly ground and brewed quality espresso, cooled down (or a cup of really strong regular brewed coffee)*
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/3 cups pure maple syrup
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups ice cubes
Optional: Coconut whipped cream (this is dairy free, but has some ingredients that aren't natural)
Optional: Pure maple sugar shavings

*Note: The 3/4 cups is made up of two single long shots. Otherwise your coffee may be a bit too strong.

Directions

1. Pour the coffee, almond milk, maple syrup, vanilla extract and ice cubes in the WildSide+ jar in the listed order.
2. Run the blender on the Smoothie setting.
3. Pour the blended mix into a couple of glasses and drop in a couple of straws.
4. Add the optional coconut whipped cream and maple sugar shavings if you like.

Enjoy!